Is a normal diet enough to cover all our vitamins and minerals?

The importance of vitamin and mineral intake

A healthy diet is undoubtedly the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle. A properly balanced diet provides the body with the necessary nutrients that are essential for optimal functioning of the body, prevention of disease and maintenance of energy and vitality. Vitamins and minerals play a key role in many processes, from boosting the immune system to supporting cell growth and bone health. The ideal scenario involves eating a wide variety of fresh foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and protein, ensuring that our bodies get everything they need.

Unfortunately, the realities of modern life often make this ideal impossible to achieve. Although many of us try to eat healthy, the quality of our food is deteriorating due to intensive farming, industrial food processing, and depletion of soil nutrients. In addition, the fast pace of life often prevents us from incorporating enough fresh, quality food into our diets. As a result, many people are deficient in key vitamins and minerals, which can lead to a range of health problems.

Why is a multivitamin a great help?

Given how challenging it can be to ensure adequate intake of all the nutrients you need from food alone, supplementation, especially in the form of a multivitamin, is becoming essential for many people. Multivitamins are nutritional supplements that contain a mixture of essential vitamins and minerals in the form of tablets, capsules or powders. By covering a broad spectrum of micronutrients, they can serve as a practical and effective prevention of nutritional deficiencies, especially if your diet does not always provide sufficient intake of all the necessary substances.

Each person has different nutritional needs, which can vary according to age, gender, health status and lifestyle. Multivitamins may be particularly suitable for people who have greater demands on their health, such as pregnant women, athletes, the elderly or those following specific diets, such as vegetarian or vegan. Multivitamins can help you meet your recommended daily allowance (RDA) of many vitamins and minerals without having to count every meal you eat.

The importance of multivitamins for athletes and active individuals

For athletes and people with higher levels of physical activity, nutritional needs are even greater. During physical activity, the body burns more energy, consumes more nutrients and is exposed to more stress. Athletes need sufficient vitamins and minerals not only for rapid muscle recovery, but also to maintain performance, prevent injury and strengthen the immune system. Increased physical activity requires increased intake of certain specific nutrients such as magnesium, calcium, potassium or B vitamins.

Although it is ideal that even athletes should obtain nutrients mainly from food, in practice it is often difficult to consume enough food to cover all their nutritional needs. This is where multivitamin supplementation proves to be an effective solution. Multivitamins can help athletes quickly and conveniently supplement their daily doses of all the micronutrients they might not otherwise get in the right amounts. This ensures support for their performance, health and rapid recovery.

For example, athletes who train at a high level may have increased iron requirements due to increased production of red blood cells that transport oxygen to the muscles. Iron deficiency can lead to fatigue, weakness and a decline in performance. Similarly, it can be difficult to ensure adequate intake of magnesium, which plays an important role in muscle contraction and relaxation. For this reason, it is highly recommended for athletes to supplement these key minerals and vitamins through supplementation.

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What amounts of food are needed to achieve the daily dose of vitamins?

While it is of course possible to get vitamins and minerals from diet alone, it can be quite difficult to meet all your daily requirements, especially if your eating habits are not ideal. To give you an idea, let's look at some specific examples of foods and how much we would need to eat to cover the recommended daily allowance of some key vitamins.

Carrots and vitamin A

Carrots are known for their high concentration of beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the body. This vitamin is essential for eye, skin and immune system health. The recommended daily allowance of vitamin A for an adult is approximately 900 micrograms (mcg) for men and 700 mcg for women.

• Vitamin A content in one medium carrot (61 g): 509 mcg
• How many carrots would we need to eat to cover the daily dose: about 1.5 medium carrots for men, less than 1 carrot for women.

This example shows that vitamin A is relatively easy to get from carrots if you include them in your diet.

Oranges and vitamin C

Oranges are known for their high concentration of vitamin C, which supports immunity and aids in collagen formation. The recommended daily allowance of vitamin C is 90 mg for men and 75 mg for women.

• Vitamin C content in one medium orange (131 g): 70 mg
• How many oranges would we need to eat to cover the daily dose: About 1.3 oranges for men and 1 orange for women.

Also, for vitamin C from oranges, reaching the daily dose is relatively easy.

Spinach and iron

Spinach is rich in iron, which is crucial for red blood cell formation and oxygen transport in the body. The recommended daily allowance of iron is 8 mg for men and 18 mg for women.

• Iron content in 100 g of cooked spinach: 3.6 mg
• How much spinach would we need to eat to cover the daily dose: Approximately 222 g of cooked spinach for men, and almost 500 g for women.

This example shows that getting enough iron from plant sources such as spinach can be quite challenging, especially for women who need a higher daily dose.